A World in Small Hands
by Ensign Klutz
Summary: An 8-year-old Kaldur'ahm dreams of seeing the Human world that Aquaman speaks of but he does not wait for his King. He goes up to see the surface world by himself and his adventure is not like how he dreamt of. Not to worry, His King will be there for him


**A World in Small Hands**

**Chinese Fairy: **Yup, this is another one shot drabble I came up with about a week ago. It doesn't help that I found the most beautiful picture of the Young Justice League members as… children! The drawing is at deviantart(dot)com and look up, "young justice treasures untold" by **farfie kins-d39afuj **it is wonderful!

Thanks to their magnificent drawing I envisioned Kaldur as a young boy who always dreamed of the "surface world" and he finally went to go see it without his King knowing… Sounds familiar?

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Young Justice! It belongs to Warner Bros., D.C Comics and Cartoon Network. I merely borrow their characters and pretend for five minutes out of my life that they belong to me even if they don't! (cries)

**Warning: **Nothing much of a warning here, just a heads up for the fluff~! THE FLUFF!

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**A World in Small Hands**

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Atlantis rarely if ever, received sunlight from the surface world, but this did not bother the citizens of the underwater city. They did not concern themselves with the violent, corrupted world of the land. Their King Orin made sure that their utopia was well taken care of.

With this state of mind, no Atlantean bothered even thinking about the surface world except one child of Poseidonis, the capitol of Atlantis.

Kaldur'ahm swam as fast as his thin limbs could manage; he was swimming away from the boundaries of Atlantis and soon found himself swaying through the canyon walls that surrounded his home.

After several minutes, he ascended slightly, just enough to swim over a forest of coral. Kaldur was a ways from his home when he finally slowed to a leisurely pace. _"Now is my chance,"_ he thought excitedly. _"Annex Orin is not in Atlantis and my Queen Mera is busy with her lessons."_

His form touched down onto a boulder that protruded from the coral and pushed him out of the lower level of the seabed. The dark purplish blue sea was fading around him alerting him that he was leaving the aphotic depth of the ocean and that he would soon reach the layers, which received light.

The smile on his face could have shamed a child who owned everything, _"The guards were easy to slip past and not to mention Garth and Tula were too preoccupied with their studies to notice me gone… At least for the next couple hours."_ All in all, no one would notice him missing until two hours from now; he calculated this and by the time the Queen Mera sent guards looking for him, Kaldur would have returned by then. _"That's if I calculated the times correctly,"_ he added hopefully in his mind.

Kaldur'ahm finally reached his first goal: the mesopelagic layer, which ranged from 600 meters to 3000 meters. He took in a deep gulp of seawater through his gills and his smile somehow grew wider. "The water here is fresh and the currents ensure a constant flow for the water. Down where Atlantis is, there are little currents, so the water can become… somewhat stagnant." He was beaming; _"All the stories about the surface world that my King has told me about will soon be in my grasp!"_

No one else in Atlantis ever asked their King about what happens in the world above their city or what is it like. King Orin, or Aquaman was startled when the timid and shy Kaldur'ahm who asked his King about his excursions to the surface approached him with Justice League.

Kaldur tucked his feet together and like a dolphin's tail and he pushed himself faster towards his final goal. The water around him grew lighter and lighter in the blue spectrum as he neared the surface. His head broke the placid surface of the ocean and he gasped at how different it was breathing air compared to breathing water through his gills. Brilliant blue-green eyes scanned the area around him and soon the Atlantean saw in the distance, a beach, which held… people!

His head cocked to the side in awe as he really saw people… _"What did my King call it? Ah, yes! Walking! They're walking on their fins… no, feet!"_

That place where the ocean met the land was filled with people enjoying a day at the beach; even from his place so far out from the shore, he could _feel_ their happiness and it was contagious.

The Atlantean smiled as he drank in the sun, the people, and the pure joy of seeing the surface world. _"My dream of seeing this new world has finally come true,"_ he thought with a slight hysteric tone of excitement. This was too good to be true!

The young eight-year-old Atlantean leaned his form backwards so his body floated like a log on the surface of the deep blue as the sunrays bathed him in warmth. He sighed lightly as he felt the perfect temperature of the natural sun and how it could be compared to the warmth near volcanic tubes. _"The only way for any of us in Atlantis to feel such warmth is either in the use of magic or taking a risk of nearing the volcanic tubes… Here, it seems that the humans do not need to take such a dangerous chance."_ Kaldur dipped his form back, head first in a back flip motion and once he took in more sea water through his gills, his head popped right out again so his field trip could be enjoyed more.

Even this far out from the beach, Kaldur heard the high-pitch shriek that came from the shore and he righted his form to gaze at the people; several people were pointing at his form, which made Kaldur's blood freeze in his veins.

"How can they see me from all the way over there?" he asked himself out loud. More and more people were looking in his direction now and they were all shouting in a different language that he could hear, but not understand.

Confusion appeared on his childish face, _"I guess my King was right about how humans do speak something different than we do…"_ he commented mentally.

His attention was back onto the crowd as a man and woman dressed in white and red clothes were running on the sandy beach and they dove into the ocean. In their hands were red objects that floated without any help from magic.

They were now swimming his way.

Every cell in his body ordered him to swim back into the lower levels of the ocean, but Kaldur'ahm did not move.

The woman reached him first and placed his form between the moving red buoy and her body. Kaldur must have looked as scared as he felt since she smiled at him and said something to him in her language.

Even with the language barrier, he could hear her tone, which held no malice or evil against him. Her smile slightly deterred his panic, but it returned ten fold when the three individuals reached the shore.

Someone placed a warm blanket around him and several people began talking in the same language the woman was speaking to him in earlier.

"Is he alright?"

"Where are the parents?"

"What was he DOING out there?"

"What are these, tattoos?"

"Who did this to him?"

"I'm calling the police!"

Kaldur'ahm felt his body shivering despite the warm day and the soft towel around his body.

"Annex…" he murmured softly, but no one heard him over his or her own conversations. _"My King…"_ he thought the same words he spoke out loud. No one paid him mind, so he spoke louder, "A tro est tene menith Annex Orin!"

He glared at the people around himself in frustration. _"Why do these people not understand me? Atlantean is easier to understand than their foreign language. I just said, 'I want my King Orin!' yet no one understood."_

As he thought this, it was clear on all the surface dwellers faces that they did not understand him one bit. "Anyone understand him?" asked a young blond teenage boy; everyone replied in the negative.

This was no longer a fun adventure; Kaldur dropped the towel that surrounded his form to the ground and he turned to run back into the water. _"My first time in the surface world and there is a language barrier as big as the Laurentian Abyss…"_ he huffed a sigh and began his running towards his home.

A hand grabbed him by the upper right arm, which stopped the young Atlantean boy from fleeing and it did not let him go. "Hold on, kid! You can't go back out there! Where are you parents?"

Kaldur attempted to free himself from the man's grasp and tried to yank his arm free. "Tou kerian sazen a'douham ma!" he cried. _"Please let me go!"_ was what he demanded while he struggled.

The Atlantean began panicking as the same person used his other hand to get a better grip on him and pulled him away from the water; they were pulling him away from the gateway that lead to his home. _"ANNEX ORIN!"_ screamed his mind, but no appearance of his king to speak of.

Kaldur took in one more panicked breath before he screamed at the top of his lungs.

"ANNEX ORIN! EST SER LEMAOR II NOBIDAE!" his cry for help did not give him an answer from his king, but the man's hold on his upper arms slackened slightly. This was his chance to run, but another pair of hands grabbed a hold of him. This new restrainer was a woman who looked annoyed with this yelling.

"What is the stupid boy saying? Is he crazy or something?" she began pulling him towards a small miniature house that was nestled in the sand. Kaldur's eyes scanned the letters on the side of the building, but they did not make sense to him.

_"What is a 'Lifeguard post'?" _He mentally asked in a perplexed tone. His curiosity was cut off as he realized that they were taking him farther and farther from the ocean. "Nemon! Nemon, Est te draike eineou serzen!"

"_No! No, I do not want to go!"_ he screamed this, but no one listened nor seemed to care about his petrified voice.

Before he could be dragged into the post, a large tidal wave swept onto the beach and it soothingly touched Kaldur's feet before receding back to the ocean. The beaches inhabitants all turned to see a large creature from the ancient world rising from the ocean; its tentacles swept over the crowd and it moved closer to rest on the sandy shore. While everyone was shocked to their cores by the oversized octopus, Kaldur's eyes were trained on the man walking out of the deep blue sea.

"Annex Orin!" cried the Atlantean youth as he yanked himself out of the slackened hands that were restraining him. He ran as fast as his feet could carry him and stumbled a little, but nonetheless, he sprinted up to his father figure and without thinking of his actions, Kaldur hugged his King close, in order to verify this was not a dream.

King Orin placed a supportive hand upon his adoptive son's back with a sad smile on his lips. "Est te au kaliathane." He said softly, _"Yes, I am here…" _his words rippled in his mind.

When his gaze lifted up to the crowd, his eyes had lost all reasoning.

"What have you done to him?" he asked in the human language known as English. Ever since he joined the Justice League, he has made it a daily chore to study and learn English in order to communicate more with his surface friends.

His tone was cold and callous, but this did not stop a brave soul from hesitantly taking a step forward; the middle-aged man spoke, "Th-The child was so far… far from the shore that we thought he needed help. We… we didn't know he was like you."

Aquaman was now glaring, "_Like_ me…?" he hissed, "What does that mean, human?" his tone held no room for the man to defend his words and in response to his growing anger, the sea level began to rise like its Master's emotions.

Dark clouds slowly began swirling above the King of the Sea; he was not going to let these people get away with implying Kaldur and himself were anything less than what they were.

"Annex…" murmured the young child that clung to the man he saw as his father and king. Aquaman paused mid spell of conjuring a storm and glanced down to see those innocent eyes brimming with tears. "Est teharma wei, est de sevou'akire Atlantis." The child spoke and only Orin understood him.

"_I want to go home, I want Atlantis."_

The King of the underwater civilization nodded, "Ouweii, Kaldur'ahm." Aquaman easily lifted the child into his arms and turned to leave; _"Of course, Kaldur'ahm." _He was willing to do anything to make his child feel safe again. Orin was so enveloped in Kaldur's shaken state that he was not even going to bother with these human.

He turned towards the large creature and spoke loudly, "Nueii ta'utowen ii serujei!" _"Let's return now!"_ The giant octopus recoiled its tentacles away from the shore and disappeared into its natural habitat. Aquaman did not glance back at the people as he waded into the shallow waters with Kaldur still tucked in his arms, safe from anything.

As the water level rose and soon reached his chest, Orin stared down at his son and spoke in a gentle tone, "Virs ec teharma oni le'antherus." The eight-year-old nodded and snuggled into his king's warmth.

"_I know we are going to talk about this later, Annex… I can already sense you are not pleased with me."_ Kaldur'ahm closed his eyes and allowed the salt water that acted as his air in the ocean fill his gills once more and he fell asleep wrapped in the safety of his King's arms.

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When Kaldur'ahm came to, he found himself in another setting entirely. _"This is not my room," _he thought idly as his eyes roamed over the large king sized bed and the mountain of soft, plush pillows at the foot of the bed. Moving upward, his eyes found the canopy of shimmering seaweed that floated around the frame of the bed like small waves.

As Kaldur moved from his place under the covers, he noticed that there was a large desk constructed out of coral in one corner and a stone dresser with a large mirror embedded in a wall opposite from the desk.

He paled ten fold. _"Dear Poseidon! I'm in my King and Queen's royal chamber!"_ quickly as possible, Kaldur pushed his form off the bed and swam over to the door. _"Maybe if I go hide for awhile my King will forget about my… adventure…"_

The said eight-year-old was opening the door when he came face to lower torso with his King Orin.

Kaldur backstroked away from his king and settled to the floor of the room in a low bowing position. "F-Forgive me, Annex Orin! I did not mean to impose on you!" he stated quickly and with his head still bowed.

Aquaman stared down at his son for a few moments before floating close to the younger Atlantean and he picked him up into his arms. "You did not impose on me, Kaldur'ahm. You did however, scare the Queen and I."

The child blushed in embarrassment and ducked his head. "Please forgive me for my horrible actions…" Kaldur whimpered as his wild imagination took flight and several futures began taking shape in his head. _"What happens if he exiles me from my home? Where would I go? Would I have to try and live on my own or will I die in the first few days? My King must be so angered with me!"_ the young Atlantean did not realize that his troubles became clear as day on his face; Orin saw how panicked his son was becoming and spoke.

"Calm yourself, Kaldur… I am not upset with you. I will admit that I was scared when Mera told me that you did not make it to your class this afternoon. No one had seen you since this morning and suddenly one of the patrolling mermen come to inform me that they saw you swimming towards the surface." He placed a gentle finger under Kaldur's chin and lifted those blue-green eyes to meet his deep blue orbs.

"Why did you simply not ask me to take you there, Kaldur'ahm?" asked King Orin. Kaldur tried to turn his gaze from his king, but Aquaman did not allow this to happen.

"I…" he began weakly; he took in a small gulp of water through his gills before continuing, "I was so excited to see the surface world after your last story about how you saved that country… Fiji from a large monsoon and I really wanted to see that world which you protected." He sighed a small breath and added, "However, with that story you spoke of how many people were in a panic and how they lost their senses in the face of chaos…"

His eyes were brimming with tears as he thought of the grim lines that plagued his King's face… "You said you were terrified of how… barbaric human become when they believe the world is going to end and you… I thought you would never let me see the surface world after that encounter…" he finished and he hugged his King close.

Orin allowed his son to smother his face in his chest; his eyes gazed down that the child in understanding, _"You do not want me to see you cry, my son…"_ he pulled Kaldur close and hugged him tightly.

"You are right, vuerd'ah," he murmured softly. Kaldur's eyes widened in shock as he heard his king call him son, but what shocked him was that it also had the meaning of "my treasure" in the Atlantean language. Aquaman pulled back just enough so their eyes could meet again, "I am scared for your safety in that dangerous world above us, but I would never deny you the right to see it. I just want to be with you in order to ensure your well being. Today, it was terrifying hearing you cry out for me and I feared that I was too late to save you… Those humans had the right intentions, but they still harmed you mentally."

King Orin cut himself off for a moment and his large hand ruffled his son's fluffy bleach blonde hair. "I want to protect you from all those bad things in the surface world so I ask of you, Kaldur… Next time you wish to see the human world, tell me and I will show it to you."

Kaldur'ahm's blush grew as his king asked, _asked_ something of him. "M-My King… Please do not ask of me; you can order and I shall follow." He replied quietly and he glanced down at the sheets that they sat upon. Aquaman nodded, "Yes, I could order you to do so, but then that would be counter productive. A friend of mine, Superman, says 'you can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar', so maybe my asking you will ensure more trust between us."

The youth nodded absently and replied, "I will endeavor to do as you asked, Annex Orin." The King of the Seven Seas nodded in agreement and gently pushed himself off his place on the bed with Kaldur in his arms.

"I am glad we had this conversation, Kaldur'ahm. Now come, my Mera wishes you to eat since you missed lunch and dinner." He began swimming to the entrance and exit of the royal bedroom and he still held the eight-year-old Kaldur in his embrace.

"My King," spoke the child; his king nodded for him to continue, "What is honey, vinegar, and flies?"

King Orin chuckled at his son's innocent of the human world and continued swimming towards the main hall where Queen Mera, Prince Orm, Tula and Garth were waiting for the only two Atlanteans in the entire underwater world who held an interest in the surface world.

"One day you will join me in seeing the better side of human world of whom we share this Earth with."

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**MEGA NOTE:** Regarding the Atlantean language spoken in the story, I MADE IT UP! The episode, "Downtime" only had a few examples and none of them were consistent enough for me to find out what word meant what. I MADE UP MY OWN WORDS so please do not say anything about "What the heck was that garbage?" I tried my best! I'm sorry it is a little different, I tried to keep it similar to the show!

**Chinese Fairy:** Yes, another one shot! It is done and I hope everyone liked it. It was just a drabble I made ever since a loud voice in the back of my head kept screaming at me, "GIVE AQUALAD SOME ATTENTION!" so low and behold, here we are!

I hope you all enjoyed this little ficlet and will come to see more of my stories. Thank you and please remember to REVIEW! Many favorite, but not many review… My story, "Within a Planetarium" is proof enough. I wanted feedback and only a few people reviewed while 17 people favorite-ed it. Not very cool, guys…

Anywho, please excuse any grammar mistake and I do hope you enjoyed!

Take care~


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